Mostly based on this article https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them

  • The key variables: how many people are in a space, how much airflow is around me, and how long will you be in the environment?
  • "Anyone you spend greater than 10 minutes with in a face-to-face situation is potentially infected."
  • "Anyone who shares a space with you (say an office) for an extended period is potentially infected."
  • Social distancing doesn't work indoors for non-brief encounters. If you're in the same room with someone for a while and they're infected, you can get exposed just via the droplets they expel when sneezing, coughing, singing, laughing, yelling, or even just breathing.
  • Avoiding handshakes, hugs, and social distancing doesn't seem to prevent COVID from spreading if you're in an indoors area with someone who is infected. But if you're outside, avoiding hugs and handshakes and keeping good distance could very well prevent you from getting COVID from someone who has it. Outdoor, brief (less than a few minutes) interactions that are six or more feet apart seem very low risk.
  • Singing is a particularly risky activity. This includes many types of praying.
  • Risky events are indoors with people hanging out relatively close, with lots of talking, singing or yelling.
  • Social distancing doesn't work in indoor spaces where you spend a lot of time.
  • Social distancing helps with brief exposures or outdoor exposures.

In short, it seems very difficult to avoid spreading COVID between people that you share a living space with, or where you're spending hours inside their house. Family and friend dinners indoors are highly likely to spread the virus if someone at the dinner has the virus. Social distancing is unlikely to protect you if you're indoors with someone for an extended (10+ minutes) period of time.

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